The diplomat on the other hand should first of all be a statesman. To belong to the first rank, along with the greatest in the world, he must have the gift of prophecy and the grace to keep it quiet. In the pursuit of a great national ambition he should have wisdom to foresee, genius to plan and tact to execute. His study is of men, the history and the political institutions of men, the history and tendencies of his own times, and the capacities and characteristics of different races. These things are his science, furnishing the basis for his art, that art which Bacon called the highest of all—the art of “working” men. He cannot, in the nature of the case, expect to receive very definite instruction from his government, unless it be upon a specific line of policy and an acquaintance with the treaties between the two countries. Precedents are of value to him as a guide to present action, but more especially as affecting future policy; for a nation’s foreign policy is influential among other nations and satisfactory at home in proportion as it is self-consistent and just. In great international emergencies the diplomat sometimes does the work of a military chieftain, but with these differences: his means are peaceful, his warfare is necessarily in secret, the results are bloodless, and, when all is done, the skill with which he has fought is seldom recognized except by the historian.
Fortunately the practical problem of choosing men for the diplomatic service does not contemplate deeds of such momentous character—at least not for beginners—but it does indicate the magnitude of the scale of operations sometimes carried on by this service which makes history no less than do military campaigns. It is evident, moreover, that no course of study however long can prepare a man for the diplomatic service, except in an elementary way. It goes without saying that such elementary preparation should be made before entering the service, and that it should include among other essentials a knowledge of French, Spanish or German, especially the first which has been called the language of diplomacy.
But after all, the only satisfactory preparation for the diplomatic service is experience. Some years ago the United States began a system, pursued more or less by other nations, of appointing young men to various legations as attachés without salary. In this capacity they became acquainted with diplomats and the “ins and outs” of diplomacy, and incidentally gave their superiors a chance to discover their fitness or unfitness for the service. The advantages of such a system, which has been abandoned except as to the appointment of military and naval attachés, must be apparent to all, and it is hard to see why it should not be reinstated.